They agonisingly missed out on qualifying for the AFC Cup play-offs on goal difference last season.

This term, Geylang International are determined to return to the continental competition.

At the Eagles' squad announcement and sponsorship renewal with Epson at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Friday, Geylang chairman Ben Teng said: "It is going to be a highly competitive season with other clubs also strengthening.

"So, finishing better than last season is one of our targets. But we also want to return to the AFC Cup for the first time since 2010.

"Doing so would make our club a more attractive prospect to potential sponsors. In fact, we would have had some Chinese sponsors had we qualified for the AFC Cup this year.

"This is why we are grateful to Epson for keeping their faith and extending their sponsorship with us for another season."

Through Epson's sponsorship of J2 League side Matsumoto Yamaga and Geylang, and the memorandum of understanding signed by both clubs, Yamaga Under-18s coach Takahiro Usui will head the Eagles' centre of excellence this season.

The sponsorship extension will also see Geylang organise the second edition of the Epson Singapore Cup, a youth football competition. Young talents who shine can look forward to a training stint with Yamaga later in the year.

Epson Singapore managing director (South-east Asia) Toshimitsu Tanaka said: "The first year has proven to be a win-win start for both Epson and Geylang.

VISION

"We are aligned in our vision to nurture budding talent in the local football scene and to bring the community together via football."

On the S.League front, Geylang have retained coaches Hasrin Jailani and Noor Ali, as well as 14 senior players, most of whom signed a two-year contract last year.

Hasrin, 41, said: "We still need to work on our defence.

"Losing Daniel Bennett and Shariff Samat is not easy and we have to make adjustments.

"For example, Safirul Sulaiman is originally a midfielder, but he has done very well for us as a left back in pre-season with his pace, fine left foot and good crosses.

"In attack, we hope our new imports, Argentinian Ricardo Sendra and Costa Rican Victor Coto can lead us to a better scoring record than the 35 we managed over 24 games last season.